Probation is becoming a sanction for online hate speech
The Koper District Court reports on the media in mid-February to a former motoring journalist Martin Česnja sentenced him to six months in prison with a probation period of two years after his posts on the social network Twitter or the spread of intolerance against foreigners 297 of Article of the Criminal Code. The verdict is not yet final.
It is said to be three Twitter posts from 2016. “What now? Are we going to cross the horde again across our southern (Schengen) border and are we finally going to cater to anyone who would cross it illegally? “;” These are not humans, but animal swarms, so they need to be killed for us and our descendants to survive. “v” Let them be thrown into the sea. “
The disputed records were forwarded to the prosecution by the Spletno oko portal, “a point for reporting child sexual abuse footage and hate speech on the internet“. It is shown at the reported point Spletno oko that they have no authority to delete content posted by users on social networks, nor to block or temporarily disable user profiles. In cases where they receive a report from online users that is deemed illegal, they also forward it to the social network, the police, who offer internet services.
“We do not know the content of the judgment, so we are not listed with the information to which the specific hostile statements of the mentioned Internet users refer. However, we can confirm that in connection with the posts of Martina Česnja on social networks, who have already been reported for alleged hate speech and in the reports we have recognized sufficient signs of violations of Article 297 of KZ-1 to assume a police case. We assume that the police then, in cooperation with the prosecution, prepared a criminal complaint. The website provides reports of alleged hate speech by the police, otherwise those reports that it deems to be so allegedly illegal under Article 297 of the Criminal Code (public incitement or incitement to hatred, violence or intolerance), “she explained to MMC Urša Valentič, coordinator of the Web Eye project.
Supreme Court precedent ruling
The judgment of the Koper court is not the first due to the spread of intolerance on social networks or pursuant to Article 297 of the Criminal Code. According to the Spletno portal, the groundbreaking judgment of the Supreme Court in July 2019, which ruled in the case of hate speech against the Roma (commentary on the Radio Krka website in February 2011) that public incitement to hatred, violence or intolerance is a criminal offense. in cases that may endanger public order and peace, as well as in cases of threats, insults and complaints.
Last April, a court in Črnomelj sentenced an online commentator to a suspended sentence, who also called for the massacre of refugees. However, even here, as in the case of Cherry, the judgment is not yet final.
The number of applications is growing
In the future, there may be more convictions for spreading hatred, intolerance or threats online. on social networks. I do not yet have a website about the statistics of reported and subsequent criminal charges for last year, because the annual report of the reported point is still in the process of preparation.
In 2019, 90 reported hate speeches were forwarded to the police, followed by 21 criminal charges. “The vast majority of those reported are referring to incitement to killings, murders or violence, “says Valentič, adding that the applications are not only about the social network, but also about the news portals and comment sections below them.
Hate speech also promotes conspiracy theories
How did the spread of intolerance in Slovenia affect the covida-19 epidemic, which, due to measures against the spread of the new coronavirus population, further confined itself to the virtual world?
“Individual reports related to hate speech, substantively related to coronavirus disease and its alleged vectors (most often in comments to migrants or other migrants). In general, the number of reported hate speech received in 2020 has increased significantly (the final figures will be published in the annual report in March), but this association cannot be fully attributed to the situation with the new coronaviruses, as may be partly the result of renewed cooperation with Slovenian news portals and the re-implementation of the button for direct reporting of hate speech, also on the MMC portal, “Valentič describes last year’s situation.
He points out that conspiracy theories, which also appear extensively in connection with covid-19, more often drive hate speech, so, as he says, the increase can be partly attributed to these phenomena.
“In Slovenia, there are quite a few conspiracy theories, myths and half-truths online, especially through social networks, as well as hostile trends related to covid-19. One of them, as already mentioned, is the idea that both the migrants responsible for spreading the virus are treated in the same way as the health threat that would spread most uncontrollably, the most extreme commentators call for violence against refugees or even massacres. This theory actually builds on some hostile theories in relation to migrants that are thus spreading even before a pandemic. It is problematic that the content is not only disseminated in individual comments, but is also disseminated by certain media., “warns the coordinator of the Web Eye project.
“One of the conspiracy theories that has emerged and spread on social media is also that the authorities have closed state borders so that immigrants can be smuggled into the country without resistance. This idea overlaps with the conspiracy theory of “The Great Replacement”, according to which closures of municipal and state borders, restrictions on movement and quarantine should be part of the search for a plan in which the most non-governmental organizations and members of left-wing political parties options to settle immigrants in the country without resistance,“he adds.
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